Islamabad / AFP In the corner of a pristine park in an upmarket district of Islamabad, an open-air classroom run by an aging rescue-worker offers a beacon of hope to the city’s poorest. For the past 30 years, “Master” Muhammad Ayub, whose day job includes defusing bombs and putting out fires, has cycled from his office to the makeshift ...

  MOSCOW / AP The entire territory of Syria must be “liberated,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said in remarks televised on Saturday, dismissing demands for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s departure as “thoughtless.” Dmitry Peskov said Assad needs to stay in power to prevent the country from falling into the hands of extremists. “There are just two options: Assad sitting in ...

YaoundE/ AFP Sixty people were killed and almost 600 injured when a packed Cameroon passenger train derailed, leaving debris strewn across nearby tracks as carriages swung off the rails. The train, travelling from the capital Yaounde to the economic hub Douala, was crammed with people due to road traffic disruption between the two cities and came off the tracks just before ...

  London / AFP Security has been stepped up on the London Underground network, police said on Saturday, following the arrest of a 19-year-old man after a suspicious item was discovered on a Tube train. “The public will see more officers, including armed police, in and around transport hubs,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said. Armed police arrested the 19-year-old in London ...

  Moscow / AFP Nineteen people died when a helicopter carrying oil and gas field workers crashed in a remote area of Siberia in bad weather, Russian investigators said on Saturday. The Mi-8 helicopter carrying 22 people including three crew crashed on Friday night in the far-northern Yamalo-Nenetsky region some 2,400 kilometres (1,500 miles) northeast of Moscow, investigators said. Photos ...

  Moscow / AFP Moscow on Saturday escalated a row over its attempts to send observers to the US presidential polls, accusing Washington of adopting an “anti-Russian” stance. Moscow has said that it is trying to send its own observers to various US states to monitor the November 8 vote, but has been refused accreditation so far. Deputy foreign minister ...

  Santiago / AFP Chilean President Michelle Bachelet faces a test of strength on Sunday in municipal elections that will serve as a political barometer with just over a year to go in her term. The local polls are the last vote before general elections in 2017 that will decide the Socialist leader’s successor, at a time when the left in ...

  Kabul / AFP An Afghan Taliban delegation arrived in Pakistan, militant sources said on Saturday, raising speculation over efforts to revive peace negotiations days after reports of secret talks with Afghan officials in Qatar. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the delegation from the militants’ political office in Qatar had arrived in Pakistan, but ruled out any chance of peace ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Executive Committee of Abu Dhabi Executive Council approved an AED104mn project to construct an road network in Al Ain city, at a meeting chaired by Saeed Eid Al Gafli. The project will include the construction of stormwater drainage and sewerage systems as well as drinking water pipelines and the provision of lighting and other ...

  Amman / EMIRATES BUSINESS Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, completed a key step in the development of the largest solar power plant in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) for a 200-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) plant was signed on Saturday by Mohamed Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, and Abdul Fattah Daradkeh, Chief ...